Aibu to ask what normal healthy slim people eat?

[Toofrigginfat]

Have name changed.

Things have reached an all time low, found myself sobbing in the bathroom about to stick my fingers down my throat, luckily - I suppose - interrupted by the cries of 'mummyyyyyy' from two bickering children.

I am SO fat and SO depressed about it. I have tried WW, SW. Watched programme last week about dieting industry and it has put me off doing anything commercial/faddy. After failing to be able to stick to anything for the past 20 years my weight is now at an all time high of 11st 10 (I'm 5ft 2) and I have lost all concept of what a healthy balanced diet consists of.

What do normal, slim people eat? And if I eat that way, will I lose weight too? Just bought a juicer, husband and I keen to get into that.

Help. Please.

My husband always struggled with his weight and did all the exercise, smaller portions etc and nothing worked at all.

In the end, he decided to listen to me. I bought him a copy of Dr Briffa's Waist Disposal Diet - basically a low carb/paleo lifestyle.

Within 4 months he had dropped 2 suit sizes, 7 inches off his waist and 14kg. 2.5 years on he remains on the diet, remains slim, feels much less tired and no longer craves carbs and sugar. His cholesterol levels improved massively.

He sins occasionally and has cake or a bit of potato but not often. We also watch portion size.

I've always done high fat/low carb and sin one day a week and have baked potatoes or rice.

There are lots of lovely alternatives - grated cauliflower cooked in the microwave for 5 minutes with some butter is a great rice substitute to go with curry (tastes really nice and I'm not generally a cauliflower fan).

Giving up snacking between meals and just not having things like bread or biscuits in the house helps.

I am fairly slim and a steady weight and also eat quite a bit of sweet things but I am sometimes amazed at the amount that some people can pack away.

A fairly overweight work colleague for example who swore she was very picky and ate like a bird sat with me at lunch one day and ate a pack of sandwiches, a very large savoury pastry followed by a cake in record time. It made me feel very full looking at it. People sometimes say to me I don't eat much but i think people are so used to thinking its normal to snack all day and have 3 big meals that they feel deprived if they don't eat like this

You can't just go on a diet for a couple of weeks and then go back to all the overeating

I tend to eat stuff instead of instead of as well of, so I am not a very healthy eater but just could not manage to eat what some people do but I certainly do not live on chicken and salad and enjoy chocolate and dessert. If I go out for a meal I will probably have a light 1st course and then a big gooey pudding.

After having DD I put on a lot of weight. I've now had DS and have lost it all again just by getting the urge to scoff under control.

I have no cake or biscuits in the house. They are treats for the weekend when we have coffee out etc. I don't snack because I have my meals fairly close together. I eat nothing after 6pm, if I get peckish I have a hot drink. I drink loads of squash, no caffeine. Meals are home cooked but nothing spectacularly low calorie, I just stop eating when I'm no longer hungry, I listen to my body. The weekends I relax it a bit and have a few coffees, cookies and eat later than 6pm.

I've now reached a place where I really don't want food outside of meal times. I can say no to a chocolate bar etc without panicking and stuffing it down. If I've eaten too much over the weekend I feel less hungry on Monday and eat accordingly. I've gone from 9st7 to 8st5 in 12weeks. I think the trick also is not to think about it. I don't have scales instead i get weighed every 12wks when I get my depo jab.

Find something that works for you. Something which is about changing your relationship with food and isn't a fad diet. Learn to feel good about yourself as an aside to the weight and the weight may come off all by itself.

muminthecity :) :) :)

This is a great thread with loads of good advice from slim people.

I do the 'smaller plate' thing because I want to cut down on portion sizes but also trick my mind into not feeling deprived by seeing a small mound of food on a big plate. That same small mound looks perfect on a small plate. Also, I tell myself that if I still feel hungry after eating my meal, I can get more. I never feel hungry after a meal.

Found an interesting website (Cornell University)

foodpsychology.cornell.edu/research/beating-mindless-eating.html

that talks about why we overeat.

I am 5'2", size 6, but I was size 12 for most of my 20s (and v briefly was a size 14) then a size 10 for about 5 years, briefly crept up to a size 12 and then slimmed down to a size 6 about 8 years ago and have stayed the same (except for pregnancies).

I dropped from a 12 to a 10 by dropping desert every day and coincided with a major relationship breakup. I didn't realise that at 5'2", I had been eating the same size portions as my 6'2" boyfriend. When I got together with my now dh, that's when the weight crept back on.

I went from size 12 to a size 6 by joining a gym for the first time in my life, calorie counting and cutting out crap.

I have maintained my weight by being very aware of what I eat. So I do eat everything in moderation (no banned foods here!) but I gorge on fruit rather than sweets/choccies but love ice cream etc. I stick to roughly 1200 calories a day which doesn't sound a lot but I am small boned and petite so its just fine. My food consumption looks like this:

Breakfast usually porridge made with milk and a drop of honey, or granola with natural/Greek yoghurt and fruit with a dash of milk.

Mid morning snack is fruit.

Lunch during the week is no carbs. salad in summer, soup in winter, usually popcorn and a tub of fruit. At weekends this tends to be my carb-fuelled meal.

Afternoon snack of fruit.

Supper is usually carb based with veg and meat/fish/chicken but a small portion. On weekends this is a light meal.

Post supper snack, usually a tea with a biscuit or 2 small scoops of ice cream.

In an ideal world I would exercise 2/3 times a week but have struggled to do this recently.

Hope that helps!

Amicissima. Entirely agree about dropping either a thigh or a drumstick but I love my food nowadays and live in feaR of slipping back into an eating disorder if I drop food. Wine is the way to go I think. Also I am on long term low dose HRT due to a family hist of early onset osteoporosis and to countract potential damage caused by anorexia. I think that adds anothr half stone; not forgetting the hypothyroidism although I think that's so cotrolled it makes little difference.

Old croc emoticon :). Must get highlights done next week to cover up grey. If one didn't laugh one would cry !

I think eating slowly helps too

I know some very fast eaters who finish everything on their plate and are still hungry.

I often think if perhaps they ate more slowly, they'd start to digest and perhaps feel more full.

There used to be a support thread on here called 10/10 which I lOVED as it was focused on health rather than weight loss, which, for me, was more important. However, if you were overweight then you'd lose weight on it! Basically you tried to eat 10 pieces of fruit and veg a day (plus other food, but these filled you up so you tended to eat less of the crappy foods. Also, 10 minutes of activity/exercise a day, which often led to a bit more.
All the best - it is not always easy to lose weight, but well worth it.

OP, I'm. Sorry to hear you are so upset and unhappy . I agree you need to see your doctor, to be checked out for medical problems as well as to get help with your depression . Have you been diagnosed with an eating disorder?

AFAIK weight watchers is not " faddy", its simple calorie counting. What do you mean when you say you failed? Did you stick to it?did you fail to lose weight? Or lose weight then put it back on ?

I think I'm reasonably slim and I'm very healthy. I eat lots of salad, fruits, vegetables and a modest amount of protein. I never eat biscuits, cakes, soft drinks, caffeine, pizza, ready meals, sweets, burgers, sausages, pies , take aways or pastries. I occasionally eat pasta and fruit juices. . My treats are chocolate, ice cream and red wine.

BUt I'm not sure that will help you, unless you actually know the portion sizes. And if you've tried various programmes for 20 years, it sounds like your problems are a bit bigger and more complex. I'd really urge you to get some help from the experts, rather than beat yourself up because you don't eat more salad.

OP, don't be so hard on yourself! I agree you should maybe see a GP as you have such strlonv feelings about this and maybe get some help with a plan to lose weight and change Your eating habits for good. But I'm sure you can do it!

I've never been overweight but my weight does go up and down a bit and it bothers me when it goes up, so I try to lose it straight away before it gets out of hand. I am a bit obsessed with weighing myself, at home I weigh myself at least once a day.

I think people become overweight for different reasons and not all overweight people have similar eating habits, just as not all slim people eat in the same way. But generally, unless there are hormone imbalances or something, overweight people basically consume more calories than they burn. So I think you need to be aware of exactly where the calories you consume are coming from. As a lot of people have said I would say you should keep a food and drink diary, then you can do that.

I find snacking in the evening on high calorie foods like puddings, chocolate, crisps and salty nuts etc makes a big difference for me. If I don't eat anything after dinner, I don't gain. We were just on holiday for two weeks ( without scales and for once I didn't worry about it) and we ate wonderful foods, some cooked by ourselves with beautiful local veg and herbs, some in fantastic restaurants with food that was really special but not in big portions. I ate ice cream nearly every day. I felt that I had eaten really well and it was a treat, but I actually lost weight. I think it was because the food consisted of a lot of fruit and veg, and I didn't have any of those unhealthy evening snacks watching TV. In fact if I don't watch TV I am likely to lose weight, I am more aware of what I eat rather than stuffing myself like a zombie.

I always exercise regularly 3 times a week, I think it raises your metabolic rate.

I agree with what people have said about only eating to satisfy your hunger. I never get really full and bloated. However I would eat a desert or something out of politeness if I were invited for dinner, I would just try to eat less next time.

Basically I love food and it is important to me, but funnily enough, sometimes I find that the better food I eat and the more i am aware of it, the lower my weight is.

I don't know if any of this will help your individual case but I wish you lots of luck. My neigbour has been very overweight but has worked really hard and lost 13 kilos so far, she already looks much better and is wearing nicer clothes, it's great!

If you don't fancy WW or SW (i did WW but quickly got bored with it) try my fitness pal. You soon learn what you can eat lots of, or not. I also find that when i am doing lots of exercise i don't WANT crap but do want nice healthy stuff.

Snack on things like fruit, l/f yogurt, cooked chicked breat/boiled eggs. Avoidcarbs.

I've always been skinny but feel I eat lots. I never 'watch' what I eat. However, at university, a couple of friends of mine and I were talking about why they gained weight and I didn't.

Apart from possible metabolic thingies that we weren't able to judge, it seemed to come down to a couple of things.

1. If I felt hungry I'd think 'hungry for what?'. I didn't just reach for crisps or whatever (usually if I feel hungry I need protein, sometimes salt etc). Eating the thing my body 'needed' meant I ate less and didn't keep that 'hungry' feeling so go to eat more food to fill it (with the wrong thing, so still feel hungry so go to eat more food...).
2. I ate more slowly than they did so there was a lot less in my stomach when the 'you're nearly full now' hormones/feeling kicked in.

I'm also very happy to leave food on my plate. I may eat it later, or if not then the next day for lunch, but I'll never finish what's there just because it's, well, there!

Don't know if that's helpful to you at all but it seemed to help one of my friends.

[There was no difference between us excercise-wise btw, if anything they did more]

Please don't hate yourself, you're more than just a body, you're a person too and that is what is valuable about you. I'm a size 12 and would like to be a stone lighter, but I'm a firm believer that if a diet makes you feel like you're missing out you won't stick to it. So I just try to make healthy choices and not mind too much if it goes wrong once in a while. Today I ate:

2 weetabix with loads of sultanas and semi-skimmed milk, small glass of orange juice, coffee

Early lunch of a picnic with wholemeal Pitta, ham and salad, 1/2 pack of pombears, an orange, handful of grapes, water

Treat of an ice-cream as we were out with dc and it was sunny

Home-made chicken, onion and mushroom tart with green beans, glass of red wine, 2 after eights.

Fairly typical day I think, lots to improve but could be worse and I seem to stay the same weight eating this and running after 2 small dc all day. If I exercised more and cut out the treats I expect I could lose some...

But like I say, please don't feel bad. Decide to own your food and channel strong feelings into energy to be healthier. When I have dieted in the past I've found it's a virtuous circle - when you do exercise you don't feel like eating cake. When you start to lose you are motivated to lose more.

Good luck x

One other tip that helps me: brush your teeth after a meal. That stops you eating anything else.

I will give you the advice I was given by the dietitian when I was pregnant and I didn't want to be 'fat' after the baby (I was 58 kg 5 ft 3inch tall).

Do not have more than 1 glass of fruit juice every day. It's just sugar (just the natural kind). When you feel like having something sweet have the whole fruit so you have to chew and your stomach digest it. Dried apricots are good too and rich in iron.

When thirsty drink water. Or herbal tea without sugar. Or soya milk.

Watch your portions. When you feel like snacking have nuts, they are good for you and you have to chew.

Have some treats once in while but again, have 'a piece of chocolate' not the whole bar. Same with cakes.

I followed this and I weight 57 kg now (after baby). And I got to 72 kg when pregnant.

Hi, am definitely not skinny, but have lost 3 stone this year.
Am 5ft 7" and was 13,8 in January.
porridge for breakfast
Using myfitnesspal - for first few month
Swimming - started in February - this has definitely changed my body shape and given me muscle tone (still working on the ol' bingo wings)

I was size 18 on top and 16 on bottom and am now 14/12.

But it only works, I think, if the whole house is up for it I.e. it's so depressing you trying to eat better if everyone else isn't!!
Good luck!

Sending hug and marking my place as I'm in the same position x

I was in your position(ish) regarding weight at the beginning of the year. My Fitness Pal has changed my life, it's amazing, I find it a lot less patronising than the Weight Watchers points system, it's free to use...you can eat cake if you want but just net off the cals with exercise. I've lost 2 stone in the last 6 months on it, can't recommend it enough :)

I am a size six at the moment - sometimes an eight. My eating plan is eat when hungry, eat reasonable amounts and don't eat anything that isn't recognizable as a proper piece of food and not manufactured rubbish. I don't believe in diets and especially not faddy ones. Dh is always trying ones that eg ban him from fruit it allow bacon and then he wonders why they don't work. I also make sure to excercise.

Wow I'm amazed at how little some people eat! 1200 cals a day??

I eat at least 2000 cals a day. I'm 5'2 and just over 7st.

Today I've eaten:
Breakfast- porridge with golden syrup and cashew nuts. Boiled egg.
Lunch - big plate of wholemeal pasta with grated cheese and aubergine.
Eccles cake.
Snack - 2 homemade biscuits, a few berries
Dinner - pizza with pepperoni and lots of veg, bowl of icecream.
Bedtime snack - another biscuit

Maybe a bit more than normal as first day of period and craving carbs, but overall not that different to a normal day. Normally I'd have less carbs. I don't eat as much refined carbs usually.
I'd starve if I ate less than 1500cals.
I'm quite active. Don't drive so walk or cycle everywhere. Also do 2hrs of hardcore zumba a week.

Ive no idea how many calories I eat each day but I'm sure it must be a lot more than 1200. Because I run most days and that uses up 300-700 calories ( according to my running watch)

As a family of skinny people we only ever buy wholemeal/wholegrain carbs - even for the dcs. Also eat a lots of good fats like nuts, avocado, oily fish. DH exercises a hell of a lot. 100 miles of cycling a week plus squash twice a week . He eats a lot, probably 3500 cals a day. Very slim.

They eat normal foods (not diet foods) but they don't snack much outside meal times.

They also only eat 'party' type foods (cake, crisps, sweets etc) at parties (or on rare occasions if they go to parties often).

If you stick within calories you don't need to do the exercise but yes, once you stop eating so much you'll move around more naturally.

I'm on the other end of the spectrum, don't eat enough, no energy (I was overweight years ago).

Try not get on scales, just look at what you're eating, as healthy as you can manage and you will get more energy. It'll drop off.

Good luck :)